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The small stone room glowed with electric energy, blue light glinting off of the walls with increasing force and ferocity as Mae’s chanting grew in force. From the streets below, villagers stared with growing horror as the cobblestones below them rumbled with magic force and the sky itself rumbled with displeasure. Then, there was an enormous flash, and everything stilled.
Mae sat slumped against the wall, covered in pixie dust and ash, and in the center of the room, there was a distinct lack of another being. She grumbled, dusted herself off as best she could, and returned to the sigils that she had spent the entire morning painting. As she paced the edges of the circle, a tentative hand knocked at the half-open door.
“Mae, are you alright?”
Mae whirled around, spellbook still in hand, as the Lady Theosia entered her chamber. The woman glanced her up and down, clearly checking for damage, before surveying the rest of the chamber. She lifted her skirts, she noticed, carefully stepping just inside the room to look over the sigils alongside Mae.
“Ah, it appears that the circle was interrupted in a few places,” she intoned in a low voice, pointing to where the chalk had smeared. “And I would double-check your sigils, I don’t think that you’re using the right power.”
Mae watched Theosia as she studied the book more closely, taking in the wrinkle between her carefully plucked eyebrows, the ways that her eyelashes fluttered in focus as she traced the sigils with one delicate, manicured finger. She was grateful for her sponsor, of course, but she couldn’t help but feel distracted from her spellwork by the cloud of jasmine perfume that was threatening to engulf them both as she pored over the spellbook.
After a long moment of reviewing Mae’s work, Theosia stood back to her full height and dusted herself off, turning back towards the door.
“Well, the lord would like to ask you down to his chambers to consult. I imagine you will be able to pick this back up at nightfall.”
Mae simply nodded, closing the spellbook and slipping it into a drawer that she locked with a wave of her hand. She stepped into her bedchambers from the small room, finding a silk robe embroidered with griffons that was close enough to the colors of the lordship that she wouldn’t stick out too much like a sore thumb in the court. She glanced at herself in the reflecting glass that she kept next to her bed, wiping futilely at the ash that had already embedded itself into her pores. Her hair, almost white from her power, lay flat, close-cropped to her shoulders. She shrugged, heading down the tower to where the lord was surely waiting. The proceedings of the court were, without fail, dreadfully dull, but at least she could pass the time rethinking the sigils on her failed casting this morning. Lady Theosia was counting on her to complete this, and quickly.
As she expected, the court remained as dull as it did on any given day. The Lord of the house had asked several questions of her where-abouts this morning, but when she stated that the ash on her face and rumblings were from her reinforcing the wards on his domain, he seemed pleased enough, and dismissed her to her seat at the end of the hall, free to pore over her books while he entertained visitors from other nobilities and the townsfolk who had come to beg his favor. She as fairly certain that he found her presence in his court to be more for show than for any actual utility, showing off that he was powerful enough to keep a court mage employed. Nevermind that it was always the lady who made requests of Mae, the lord simply expected her to keep the wards up and to look studious in court. Without the lady, who she truly considered her patron, she would have been doing parlor tricks to earn a coin. As it is, though the lord himself seems willing to ignore her most of the time, she earns a stable keep, is given any components she could dream of, and is largely allowed to keep to herself to her heart’s delight.
As the lord and lady withdrew from the chamber for the evening, Lady Theosia caught Mae’s eye. She spared a small smile and, just before she swept out behind her husband, winked at her. Mae stood in shock for a moment before she ran up the stairs to her chamber. In the several hours sitting in that deeply uncomfortable chair, she is fairly certain she figured out where the issues were in her earlier casting.
The small room was undisturbed from the morning, and Mae took off her silk robe in favor of a simple dyed linen thing before rushing to examine the circle. As she suspected, there were several runes that were out of place and one that, with the rearranging of the circle, called for the power of the sky rather than the heart. She grabbed the chalk and adjusted it, before staring at the circle to examine her work. This time, she didn’t bother standing with her spellbook to cast. Kneeling before the circle, she pulled a pin from her hair and stabbed it into her palm without hesitation, dragging it across her skin until she smelled the iron tang in the air. She held her hand palm-down above the circle and began the chant.
Creature of below, I summon thee. Take my lifeblood as yours, take your life as mine. Come forth, creature of the deepest dark, bind yourself to me, be an extension of my hand.
She watched as the runes shifted and a deep darkness filled the room, then plunged her bloodied hand into the runes. Almost instantly, there was a snapping noise and she felt the wind knock out of her. All the light seemed to be sucked out of the room before there was a single, brilliant flash, and she saw another form before her.
The creature in the circle was large, unraveling its body to its full height. It had skin like polished obsidian, with broken-glass horns protruding from matted hair, and it took everything in Mae’s heart not to quiver when it set its piercing gray gaze on her and grinned, revealing rows of wicked, dagger-like teeth. The thing reached one hand out to her, stopping just at the edge of the circle.
My life is yours, it hissed, still watching her unblinking. She stared for seconds, time seeming to slow as she pieced together the being in front of her. It continued to stare back, glancing between her and its outstretched hand. She had to bind this thing to her, she remembered. She willed any fear from her body and reached out to clasp its hand.
“Your life is mine,” she intoned lowly, and the thing, beast, demon, bowed its head to her.
Behind her, a pleased chortle broke the silence. Mae whirled around, while the creature in front of her simply stared openly, a small smile pasted onto its face. Lady Theosia stood in the doorway, no longer in her royal robes. She had pinned her carefully-coiffed hair back and seemed to be wearing a robe of deep red, her hands covered in what appeared to be dragon-leather gloves. She glanced at Mae, then stared openly at the demon in the summoning circle.
“Excellent job, my girl. This will do splendidly for my plans, indeed.”
The demon looked back at Mae, who stood and brushed herself off. She crossed the room towards Lady Theosia and nodded back at the creature, who followed in turn. The Lady looked up at the being, surveying it with hungry eyes.
“Quite frankly, you have outdone yourself, Mae. My husband may perish just from the vision of this in his bedchambers, without any need for violence.”
Mae watched her, silent as she always was when the Lady spoke. Theosia turned to her, reaching out a hand to pet her head.
“Once the dirty work is done, my dear, you and I can discuss a rearrangement. After all, my dolt of a husband has been rather blind to what has been going on in this tower, and he certainly never paid enough attention to you to notice the way that you watched me. With this power, and with you at my right hand, the other kingdoms will be unaware of our power until it is far too late.”
The hand that was on her head had migrated, cupping Mae’s face now. She continued to watch Theosia, mute, taking in the dark gleam behind her eyes. She moved her hand now, trailing it across her cheek and to her lips. Her polished thumb pulled at her bottom lip and pushed inside, just barely, just enough that Mae had to stop herself from letting out a quiet gasp. Theosia smiled at her, a cruel twist to her face, and turned away. The demon looked back at Mae with an unreadable expression on its face, and she nodded at it to follow the Lady down the staircase. Closing the door of her chamber, she retired to her bed, not bothering to change out of her casting robe. She paused for a moment, listening for anything from the rooms below her. Just as she heard a crash and a scream in the voice of her (likely now-former) lord, she cast a silencing charm and went to bed, dreaming fitfully of blood-red fabric and onyx hands.